In March, just over 4,400 refugees and migrants entered Europe via Italy,
Greece and Spain. Arrivals to Greece (1,250 versus 2,400) increased by almost 100% while arrivals through routes to Spain (1,500 versus 1,300) and Italy (1,050 versus 1,060) remained consistent with the previous month. In the first three months of the year some 16,640 refugees and migrants arrived to Europe by sea compared to nearly 31,000 that arrived in the same period last year, marking a 106% decrease.
In Italy, the number of refugees and migrants arriving in March by sea (almost 1,050) was the lowest via the Central Mediterranean route since late 2013. Of those crossing the sea in March, approximately 76% departed from Libya, compared to 56% in February. While departure numbers from the Libyan coast are lower in general, the Libyan Coast Guard has reported rescuing or intercepting over 700 persons in February. As of the end of March, arrival numbers by sea to Italy are 74% lower than in the first three months of 2017. The primary nationalities that have arrived by sea in March are Eritreans (23%), Tunisians (12%), and Sudanese (10%).
In March, over 2,400 refugees and migrants arrived by sea in Greece compared to over 1,500 whom arrived in the same period in 2017 (a 60% increase). Persons arriving in Greece in March mainly originated from the Syrian Arab Republic (43%), Iraq (26%) and Afghanistan (9%). As of the end of March, sea arrivals to Greece have increased 33% compared to the same quarter in 2017. In addition, the number of persons rescued or intercepted after departing from the Turkish coastline has more than doubled this year compared to the same period last year. At the land border, there were over 1,480 recorded arrivals to Evros in March, more than double the arrivals of February (nearly 530) and January (over 560) and almost seven times more than the 223 arrivals of the same period in 2017.
In Spain, nearly 1,300 people crossed the land and sea borders from North Africa in March, an increase of 8% compared to March 2017, when unusually high numbers (over 1,600) crossed the land borders. So far, the primary countries of origin of arrivals are Guinea, the Syrian Arab Republic and Cote d’Ivoire. So far in 2018, almost 130 people are believed to have died while crossing the sea to Spain, making this the second most deadly route after the sea route to Italy.
Resettlement: So far in 2018, 3,349 persons have been resettled to Europe. Almost 6,214 refugees were submitted by UNHCR for resettlement to 25 countries in Europe in the first quarter of 2018.
Dead and Missing: As of 31 March, over 480 people have died or gone missing while trying to reach Europe by sea which is a 44% decrease compared to the number of deaths between January and March in 2017 (870). On 17 March, 16 people drowned when their boat capsized off Agathonisi, the first recorded deaths on this route this year and the highest number in a single incident since April last year.
So far this year, at least 15 refugees or migrants have died along land routes in Europe or at Europe’s borders.
Relocation: According to the European Commission (EC), just over 3,300 asylum-seekers have been relocated from Greece and Italy as of 26 March 2018, including 21,994 from Greece (out of 66,400 originally foreseen, 33% of the total) and 12,329 from Italy (out of 39,600 originally foreseen, 31% of the total). The pending transfers of asylum-seekers from Greece to other EU Member States under the relocation scheme concluded with 22,000 people relocated by April 2018.